Wednesday, November 30, 2011

By Helen Musa
The 2011 Citynews Artist of the Year award has gone to sculptor Michael Le Grand. At the ACT Arts Awards ceremony on November 29, held at M16 Studios in Griffith, actor and artist Max Cullen presented Le Grand with a cheque to the value of $1,000 from Citynews. Queanbeyan glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock joined with Citynews in presenting Le Grand with a glasswork.
Le Grand, who works out of his home studio in Murrumbateman, said it had been a good year for him, with a major exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery and that he was touched and honoured by the recognition that this award from the arts community in Canberra, where he was raised.
One of Australia’s most important sculptors, his public artwork is highly visible in Civic, with his landmark red Japanese-style “gates” on London Circuit and a new blue work recently installed in Darwin Place. He has shows work regularly in Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea, where he has exhibited 11 times.
The child of Canberra art pioneers Henri and Riek Le Grand, he has devoted his life to sculpture, rising to the position Head of the Sculpture Workshop at the ANU School of Art, which he describes as “the best institution around.”
One of the movers behind Florida’s sculpture events, the ANU’s Sculpture Walk, the Australian National Capital Artists studio facilities and the National Sculpture Forum, Le Grand is an experimenter, a teacher and a daringly outspoken advocate for the arts in Canberra.
The awards evening, hosted by the Canberra Critics’ Circle, also featured the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s Green Room awards. The 2011 MEAA Green Room Award went to Andrea Close for excellence and professionalism in all her theatre practice and the MEAA Peer Recognition Award for 2011 is presented to Imogen Keen for her outstanding contribution, collaboration and innovation in theatre design.

The Critics’s Circle own awards were as follows:

For
Musicals
Presented to
Christine Forbes
For
her powerful and moving performance in the central role as the mother, Mrs Johnstone in the Queanbeyan City Council’s production of the Willy Russell musical Blood Brothers, directed by Stephen Pike.

For
Musicals
Presented to
Supa Productions
For
its outstanding production of Avenue Q, directed by Garrick Smith, musical direction by Rose Shorney, Choreography by Jordan Kelly.

For
Musicals
Presented to
David McCallum
For
his extraordinary, charismatic performance as Jesus Christ in Queanbeyan Players’ production of Jesus Christ Superstar designed and directed by Kelda McManus.

For
Musicals
Presented to
Chris Neale
For
his achievements in theatre lighting design throughout the year, most particularly for his work on Queanbeyan Players production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

For
Theatre
Presented to
Jim Adamik
For
his mastery of comic acting in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Funny Money and The Imaginary Invalid, in which he showed his capacity to range through children’s theatre, mannered comedy, and the classic farce of Molière.

For
Theatre
Presented to
Free Rain Theatre
For
an electrifying production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Cate Clelland.

For
Theatre
Presented to
Canberra Repertory Society
For
an hilarious and poignant production of The Pig Iron People by John Doyle.

For
Theatre
Presented to
Canberra Youth Theatre and The National Library of Australia
For
the collaborative production, Retrieval, which saw the library’s foyer, exhibition spaces and stacks transformed into places of performance.

For
Theatre
Presented to
Imogen Keen
For
her transformative, creative design solutions to challenging theatrical texts.

For
Visual Arts
Presented to
Jenni Kemarre Martiniello
For
her contemporary interpretation of traditional utilitarian objects, highlighting both their innate beauty and the ongoing loss of the Aboriginal cultures from which these object originated, and drawing the audience’s attention to the intricate details of Indigenous women’s craft by reworking traditionally woven eel and fish traps in glass.

For
Visual Arts
Presented to
Robert Foster
For
his innovative use of sustainable lighting that is both imaginative and creative. In particular for his Ossolite Lighting Project called The Journey at ACTEW, and his exhibition Strange Planet featuring examples of this lighting at the Gallery of Australian Design in April this year.

For
Visual Arts
Presented to
Nikki Main
For
Her solo exhibition of glass sculptures at Beaver Galleries in September, based on the movement of water in the landscape and its impact on the environment, demonstrating her concerns and continue her exploration of how to capture water in glass. She has also shown in several local exhibitions this year.

For
Visual Arts
Presented to
Craft ACT
For
A series of exhibitions titled The Elements held throughout 2011 celebrating the 40th anniversary for this visual arts organisation. The exhibitions were sensitively curated to showcase the work of prominent craftspeople working in the Canberra region.

For
Visual Arts
Presented to
Ann McMahon
For
her exceptionally fine and complex installations conceived and executed this year and exhibited in Canberra Museum and Gallery's Imitation of Life: Memory and Mimicry in Canberra Region Art.

For
Dance
Presented to
Liz Lea
For
her creative use of archival materials from Canberra’s collecting institutions in her solo work 120 Birds.

For
Dance
Presented to
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
For
Sapling to Silver, an absorbing, poignant collection of choreographic vignettes, created for the Mirramu Dance Company, carefully woven together in an evocative celebration of her significant dance career.

For
Music
Presented to
David Mackay
For
his dedication to the pursuit of excellence with his ensemble, the Oriana Chorale, a group of amateur singers encompassing a diverse range of ages and vocal qualities to consistently present concerts of an exceptionally high standard.

For
Music
Presented to
Dominic Harvey
For
his outstanding contribution to music in Canberra through 20 years of conducting the Canberra Youth Orchestra, challenging young ACT musicians to perform, at a high level, complex works from the orchestral repertoire, as evidenced in the September 2011 performance of works by Penderecki, Bruch, Chabrier, Nielsen and Kabalev.

For
Music
Presented to
Annette Sloane
For
her outstanding contribution to jazz and popular music, particularly as lead singer of ‘Annie and the Armadillos’, and for the production of a high quality CD recording celebrating the musical life of Peggy Lee.

For
Music
Presented to
Alpha Gregory
For
her outstanding contribution to the community through music, particularly as artistic director of the Woden Valley Youth Choir. Through Alpha’s skill and expert musical direction, the choir has reached exemplary standards and has gained a world-wide reputation for excellence in the field of youth choral singing.

For
Music
Presented to
For The Fallen
An Anzac Day concert performed during the 2011 National Folk Festival presentation which commemorated, celebrated and paid tribute to Australians lost in conflict since Gallipoli. Devised by Sebastian Flynn, programmed and scripted by John Shortis and narrated by Peter J. Casey.

For
Writing
Presented to
K. J. Taylor
For
“The Fallen Moon Trilogy,” a three-part novel, the final book of which was published in the past year. For the way in which she has created a “secondary world” where people interact with griffins. Taylor has garnered a strong following among young readers.

For
Writing
Presented to
Kathy Kituai
For
her initiative in setting up Tanka workshops for Canberra poets and for her lifetime of involvement in literature and the arts in Canberra.

For
Writing
Presented to
Irma Gold
For
her sharply observed collection of short stories, Two Steps Forward, published in Affirm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, and for editing the non-fiction book, The Sound of Silence: Journeys Through Miscarriage.

For
Storytelling
Presented to
Melanie Tait
For
Her initiative “Now Hear This,” public storytelling sessions at The Street Theatre, in which eight people from around the Canberra community are asked to tell a story from their life. Supported and promoted by ABC 666, this has helped revive an endangered form.

For
Film
Presented to
documentary maker
Robert Nugent
For
His work, Memoirs of a Plague, which examines man’s ancient relationship with the locust and for his world-class documentary, practice.

For
Film
Presented to
Marisa Martin
For
her innovative contribution to animation, recognised internationally and seen in the past year in her work Tegan, the Vegan.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

What do a magical fairytale, a girl with a teacup strapped to her foot, a bunch of alarm clocks and a track-suit clad girl frantically pumping her fist in the air have in common? They were all part of this season’s “Short + Sweet”.

Nine pieces of up to ten minutes were presented by young Australian choreographers and dancers, many of them current or past locals. This collaborative effort gives Canberra amateur artists and those already working in the dance industry another forum to create and display their work and ideas.

Adelina Larsson, Festival Director, has done a good job of bringing together a diverse collection of pieces, albeit less strong on the whole than last year’s inaugural performance.

In this sold out little edition to the Canberra dance calendar, it was pretty clear that the “People’s choice” was going to be “Cuppa” by the “Unkempt Dance” troupe from Perth. Deservedly so, as the trio displayed unique ways of making and drinking tea - they dangled cups from high heels, walked on teacups and ate sugar cubes off the stage, all whilst playing musical chairs. The 50’s inspired piece was clever, well danced and cute, the girls balancing timing and chemistry along with their teacups. You can rest assured morning tea in your office will seem pretty boring after watching this.

Two of the strongest pieces were Alison Plevey’s offering, mixing good physicality and strong choreography with a touch of humour in “Jane Citizen”. It portrayed the multitude of roles we assume every day. And Tanya Voges’ depiction of a couple’s relationship, against the multimedia backdrop of a brewing storm. Her unique approach and thoughtful idea was engaging and one of the most complex pieces, despite relatively undemanding choreography.

A worthy piece from Tegan Jones made good use of space, but as a competent dancer, she would have benefited from more daring choreography. She executed the piece well, but the description of a “battle with anorexia” did not entirely suit the multimedia images, wardrobing and symphony rendition of “Unforgiven”.

Established performer Liz Lea choreographed a fairytale performed by Katie Senior, whose work was described as being in a “cross-culture and special needs” context. Her expressive face and gestures created a rich and believable story as she made her way around a pretty, fairy lit set.

Thank goodness for the notes explaining Janine Proost’s “The fist”! Without them the audience’s collective head may well have been left spinning wondering what it was all about. Her frantic-paced piece remained well controlled in movement, and demonstrated her confidence as a choreographer, willing to take risks. The style and choreography was not overly “pretty”, and wardrobe choice let her down but the energy and conviction in her acting made the piece work.

The show would have benefited from choosing a stronger piece than “Disguise or reveal” to open the show. Depicting what is revealed and hidden about us, it did not engage and the interaction between Kate McDonald and Emma Bathgate-Peterson felt a little clunky. The long black skirts worked well, but the multimedia display didn’t.

And to bookend the show, “Bodies in waiting” was hectic and a little disconcerting. A portrait of time, waiting, what we do as we wait, that consisted of a lot of bustle on stage, dancers walking on and off stage, rearranging clocks, all became rather distracting. The only male/female partnering work in the show was solid and short solos showed good dance technique, but with so much happening at once, it became hard to engage in any one part of the dance.

Eliza Sanders rightfully won best female dancer and best choreographer for her creation of “Two people, together and at once”. The clearly talented year 12 student created a demanding, energetic piece. She displayed maturity in her choreography and concept and danced to a great soundtrack in her performance with Natalie Kolobaric. Their costumes at first appeared overly fussy but soon became part of the act, adding to its complexity.

Age and experience can only strengthen the emotional conviction and connection these dancers have with themselves, each other and the audience.

With solid dancers and a nice variety of ideas and styles, next year’s Short + Sweet Dance is one to keep an eye out for.

In Praise of Nepotism, ‘the unfair preferment of nephews’ or To Every Age its Art, to Art its Freedom.

Philip Parsons 2011 Memorial Lecture by Katharine Brisbane founder and chair of the cultural activist association, Currency House, her major activity since 2000, after leaving Currency Press which she also founded, now exactly 40 years ago.

Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney. Sunday November 27.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

Although the audience for the doyenne of theatre in Australia was smaller than I had expected, the presence of the high-energy young new playwrights waiting for the annual Young Playwright’s Award which accompanies the Memorial Lecture, made Katharine Brisbane’s theme especially significant.

Though she is, in her words, "on the cusp of 80", she is not afraid of the risk that this may be like standing on a berm on a Sydney beach – a narrow shelf of sand which might suddenly collapse into the oncoming tide. Her speech was a disturbing interpretation of the history and the current state of Australian theatre. Are we all on the cusp of something unpredictable?

You will be able to hear the full speech on the ABC, Radio National: Big Ideas in February 2012 – keep an eye on the ABC website for details in January – but in the meantime I would like to wrap up her surprising theme In Praise of Nepotism for the coming Season of Goodwill and Cheer.

Brisbane concludes by saying “… we, the public and the artists at the centre, need more than just goodwill. We need curiosity.” And her very last words are “Our Indigenous artists must have the last word. They understand this. While we are arguing about economic imperatives, the imperative of Aboriginal artists is community culture, its interpretation, appropriation and preservation. This is just as contentious a task as it is in the white community. But they know that if they let it go, it will be gone forever. We need to learn that lesson too.”

Nepotism, she explains, is about “the creation of an in-group to achieve a common purpose, defend itself from outside attack and directly contravene our democratic belief in a fair go for all.” Nepotism showed its good profile in Melbourne’s Australian Performing Group, beginning with Marvellous Melbourne, in the graduates of early NIDA (The Legend of King O’Malley) and through to the establishment of the Victorian College of the Arts (before it was absorbed into Melbourne University) and the creation of Sydney’s Performance Syndicate by “the only real philosopher our theatre has produced”, Rex Cramphorn.

But she laments the huge government subsidies from the mid-1970s which, though they have led to state theatre companies and high-quality training, have taken audiences away from ‘dingo’ theatre (Jack Hibberd’s description) into safe territory according to the still “fundamental influence of our respectable [British colonial] emancipist classes”, avoiding our “[Irish] convict stain”. This has been done, she says, as “Commerce was now in conflict with culture. The 70s was, remember, the time when the Nobel prizewinner Friedrich von Hayek was leading a movement to replace our former measures of cultural value – on the ground that we humans were unstable creatures – with the more reliable face value imposed by the economy.”

The dark side of nepotism, Brisbane says, is that “Security in your own arts sector is what enables work to flow. But if timidity and arrogance is a consequence … then it is anti-art. That arrogance is bred by the old order of received opinion, which leads to tired revivals and preservation of one’s territory. But because our pursuit of excellence from the start excluded from government funding that whole layer of popular entertainment, amateur groups, private studios, end of year concerts and regional extravaganzas which once engaged people in the making of art, our artists have become a collection of specialists for whom communication outside their art has become more and more difficult. The less they try to break through this barrier the more they are misunderstood. It seems that only for artists is the word ‘elite’ a pejorative. In the sports world they are heroes. Why is this? Because, when the opportunities came in the 70s, the arts sector did not take their audiences with them."

The reason I go to Belvoir St is because it is the grandchild of Nimrod, the child of Jane St and the early NIDA graduates. I can only hope that Belvoir’s annual hosting of the Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture, this year presented by his wife Katharine Brisbane – former critic, publisher with him of Currency Press, and long-time cultural activist – will generate the curiosity our culture needs to survive among the new writers like Zoe Coombs Marr, who won the 2011 Young Playwright’s Award, and that they take their audiences with them. The electric energy that sparked around the theatre as the announcement was made augurs well for a collapse of the old berm and the creation of the new.

Thanks to Katharine Brisbane for such a highly stimulating address – and listen to Radio National to hear the full story, or read the final version of Katharine's speech now on the Currency House website at:

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Australian Ballet,
Sydney Opera House until 28th November
Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Rachel Rawlins as Hanna Glawari

Let me commence this review by nailing my colours to the mast and admitting that I am, unashamedly, one of many who consider this sumptuous balletic staging of Lehar’s wildly romantic operetta, not only one of The Australian Ballet’s most beautiful productions, but one which superbly captures the delicious silliness and swooning romanticism underpinning the remarkable creation that is “The Merry Widow”.

I must admit that having fond memories of the original 1975 production, with Marilyn Rowe and John Meehan as the Widow and Danilo, and having seen several revivals since, I did give some serious consideration as to whether I really needed to see this current revival. But in the end curiosity got the better of me.

How glad I was that I had succumbed to temptation for as the first notes of the scintillating overture, with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra sparkling under Nicolette Fraillon’s brisk direction, I knew I was in for a treat, reminded immediately of how cleverly John Lanchbery had arranged and orchestrated Lehar’s lovely melodies into this ravishing ballet score.

Ronald Hynd’s choreography may not require great technical expertise, but it does capture, superbly, the essence of the music, and allows the dancers plenty of opportunity to develop individual characterisations, which this cast clearly embraced as they revelled in their beautifully detailed retelling of the familiar story of the ludicrous attempts of the officials of the mythical Pontevedrian Embassy to rescue their country from bankruptcy by engineering a marriage between the recently widowed, but fabulously wealthy, Hanna Glawari to the handsome, if worthless, Count Danilo.

As the widow Hanna Glawari, Rachel Rawlins is simply ravishing. Heart-breakingly beautiful in her costumes, refined and graceful in her dancing, confident and mature in her acting, she carried off her two beautifully staged entrances magnificently, and brought warmth and humour to her interaction with the other characters.

Robert Curran as Count Danilo
Photo by Jeff Busby

Perhaps it as the fact that he had just announced his retirement and was dancing one of his final performances in the role of Count Danilo that inspired Robert Curran to imbue his character with just a little more ardour and passion than usual, culminating in a final sweeping, bittersweet pas de deux with Rawlins which literally left the audience breathless. It was a performance to treasure.

Madeleine Eastoe was in sparkling form as the coquettish Valencienne, attentive to her doddering elderly husband, Baron Mirko Zita, while flirting outrageously with Andrew Killian’s dashing Camille.

Certainly one of the Australian Ballet’s living treasures, Colin Peasley gives a masterful performance as Baron Mirko Zita, delightfully funny while inhabiting his own story as the ballet whirls around him, but bringing a touching poignancy to the moment when he realises that he has lost his young wife to a much younger man.

Act 2 photo by Jeff Busby.

Desmond Heeley’s georgous Belle Époque costumes have been completely refurbished, and have never looked more gorgeous, especially those for the red, black and gold second act with its Hungarian inspired national dances, and for the stunning Maxims scene for the third act. His spectacular art noveau settings remain as spectacularly impressive as ever.

Given the care and attention that has obviously been lavished on this revival, and the obvious pleasure and precision with which the company dance this masterpiece, one would expect that this production will be around to continue to delight audiences for many years to come.

Monday, November 21, 2011

On opening night of The West Australian Ballet Company’s Cinderella, the foyer of The Canberra Theatre was full of tiaras, tutus, ballet slippers, long curled hair and excited faces. That was just the parents! Young and old, first-timers and old timers turned out to see this classic story.
This version was choreographed by Company dancer Jayne Smeulders, in her first full-length choreography for the WA Company. And while overall the choreography itself wasn’t overly memorable, it was well designed and satisfactorily executed, making impressive use of the stage and space.
Allan Lees 1930’s sets and costumes were rich, luscious and appealing – a strength of the show, despite needing to downsize the set slightly for the Canberra Theatre. A wonderful ballroom scene and enchanted forest scenery were a visual delight and the sparkly silver coach was as pretty as could be, although more fuss could have been made of the clock, and midnight curfew.
Andrea Parkyn danced the title role soundly, but slightly more daring and tight choreography would have just tipped it over into really connecting with and thrilling the audience.
As the “ugly” stepsisters, the exceedingly slim Jennifer Provins and Brooke Widdison-Jacobs provided plenty of entertainment, particularly in the second act, where at the Ball, their immodest attempts to attract the Prince’s attention provided many chuckles. This was a high point of the show, as it also contained some of the most cleverly choreographed and well executed dancing. The girls displayed strong technique and distinct characterisation.
The Prince, in a desperate attempt to escape the attention of the stepsisters, thrusts his younger brothers into their arms, much to the disgust of Provins, who is forced to contend with vertically challenged young prince (Andre Santos), whom she towers over. Santos was the strongest male dancer on stage. Milos Mutavdzic as the Prince needed stronger choreography as most of his time was spent running away from overzealous women at the Ball. The rest of the male corps lacked a little flexibility and grounding in their technique although the solos from the birds were enjoyable.
In Cinderella the challenge is to either throw your ball into the court of pantomime, melodrama or a serious dance performance. Finding the delicate balance of these runs the risk of missing everything and falling flat. This rendition managed to entertain with enough laughs and seriousness without descending into the ridiculous and still keep the magic of the story.
Comments were overheard at interval from several audience members about the “missing mice and pumpkin coach” but Smeulders had based her story on the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, as opposed to the Disney version that the younger audiences would be familiar with. So Cinderella was taken to the forest by the spirit of her dead mother appearing as the Fairy God mother, understated and delicately danced by Yu Takayama. Birds deck her out in gown and sparkly shoes for the Ball.
In a nice twist, when her Prince comes searching for the owner of the shoe, Cinderella’s father reveals that she has in fact hidden the matching slipper in her birdcage.
The denouement of Cinderella and the Prince dancing a beautiful pas de deux in front of a starry night and full moon closed the show in the choreographic highlight, to Sergei Prokofiev’s score.
Overall this was a very pleasant production, lacking a little “oomph” but a night out that no doubt sent the young girls and ballet lovers in the audience home with a smile on their face and a twinkle in their toes.

If you’re heading to Melbourne between 25th November and 4th December 2011, you have the opportunity to attend the Australian premiere season of a little known Broadway musical called “Grey Gardens”, a musical which the New York Times has described as ‘an experience no passionate theatregoer should miss’.

Written by Doug Wright, (who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play “I Am My Own Wife” which was seen at the Street Theatre in Canberra earlier this year) with music by Scott Frankell and lyrics by Michael Korie (who also wrote the lyrics for “Dr. Zhivago”), “Grey Gardens” is based on the cinema verite documentary of the same name by brothers David and Albert Maysles.

It tells the real-life story of Edith Bouvier Beale (to be played by Nancye Hayes) and her adult daughter, ‘Little’ Edie, (to be played by Pamela Rabe (pictured) the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Roger Hodgman, who is directing this production, describes them as “two wonderful characters, larger-than-life, amazing eccentrics, lovable, crazy but not insane. The musical sets out to show what made them like that”.

As a young society debutante in the early 1940’s, ‘Little’ Edie Bouvier Beale was one of the brightest names on the social register. Known as ‘Body Beautiful Beale’ she was the ‘It Girl’ of her generation, even eclipsing her young cousin, Jacqueline Bouvier. In the years following the Second World War however life in their 28-room mansion, Grey Gardens, took an unexpected turn.

While Jackie and her sister, Lee Radziwill played out their lives on the world stage, Edie and her mother, Edith Bouvier Beale became east Hampton’s most notorious recluses.

“It’s a very good musical” Hodgman explained simply when I asked him why The Production Company had chosen it. “When “Grey Gardens” opened on Broadway in 2007 it garnered 10 Tony Award nominations, eventually winning three, one each for its stars, Christine Ebersole (‘Little’ Edie) and Mary Louise Wilson (Edith Bouvier Beale) and one for costume designer, William Ivey Long. The story has also been filmed as an award-winning telemovie which starred Jessica Lang and Drew Barrymore".

Hodgman has directed about 10 musicals for the Production Company and enjoys the challenge and discipline involved in working with top professional music theatre actors to produce a full-scale, albeit simplified, production with the emphasis on the piece rather than the spectacle. The rehearsal period for most of these productions is usually 4 weeks, but in this case it is only 3 weeks, because “Grey Gardens” is a more intimate show than those usually undertaken by The Production Company.

Also, unusually for The Production Company, “Grey Gardens” will run for a two week season in the more intimate Playhouse at the Victorian Art Centre instead of one week in the much larger State Theatre.

The Production Company has assembled a stellar cast for this production, and in addition to Nancye Hayes and Pamela Rabe, the cast will include John O’May, James Millar, Alex Rathgeber, Liz Styles and Bert LaBonte. The musical direction will be in the hands of Kellie Dickerson who has just finished an extensive tour as Musical Director for “Wicked”. Dana Jolly will create the choreography and Fleur Thiemeyer the costumes.

This is not the first time Nancye Hayes and Pamela Rabe have worked together, as Nancye reminded me when I talked to her about “Grey Gardens”. “Many years ago, I played Glinda the good witch opposite Pamela as the wicked witch in a production of “The Wizard of Oz” and later, directed her for a second production. I’m really looking forward to working with her again in “Grey Gardens”.

One of the country’s most acclaimed actors, Nancye Hayes has just returned from a trip to New York to see Tony Sheldon in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and immediately following her season in “Grey Gardens”, she will commence rehearsals for the Sydney season of “Annie” in which she plays Miss Hannigan.

There are many reasons why this production of “Grey Gardens” is attracting

attention among music theatre buffs around the country, not the least being the opportunity to see a stellar cast of music theatre professionals in a challenging musical. Hopefully it will be successful enough to encourage the Production Company to consider touring it to other cities. But just in case that doesn't happen, you have just 12 opportunities to catch this musical in Melbourne.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The West Australian Ballet is Australia’s oldest ballet company. It makes occasional visits to Canberra, the last being with “The Red Shoes” in 2007. For this visit it’s brought a new version of the ballet classic “Cinderella”, the first full length ballet choreographed by company member, Jayne Smeulders, and the only showing of this ballet outside West Australia.

Smeulders has set her version to the Prokofiev score which she uses to great effect to craft a series of lovely airy dances to achieve a clearly focussed telling of the story using a choreographic palette that is inventive, intelligent and interesting.

Charming touches abound in this production. We first meet Cinderella at her mother’s funeral where she plants a small tree at her mother’s grave. Ten years on, her father has remarried and Cinderella is now a servant for her waspish stepmother (Allessandra D’Arbe) and two thoroughly self-indulgent stepdaughters. Her one solace is a silver birdcage, given to her by her mother, which at one point transforms into a silver coach, and later houses the crystal slipper which proves Cinderella’s presence at the ball.

Rather than have two men play the ugly sisters, Smeulders has cast two excellent dancers, Jennifer Provins and Brooke Widdison-Jacobs, both delightful comediennes, who take full advantage of the witty choreography, to create a memorably viperous, thoroughly hilarious, pair of losers.

When her father gives Cinderella a lovely old dress previously owned by her mother, the step-sisters snatch it from her and tear it in two. The spirit of her dead mother returns as a gorgeously costumed fairy god-mother (Yu Takayama) who transports Cinderella into a magical enchanted forest where she is surrounded by fantastic inhabitants including three exotic birds, (Yann Laine, Mark Dennis and Benjamin Kirkman). They present Cinderella with a beautiful gown, tiara and crystal slippers and whisk her away to the ball in the silver coach.

Andrea Parkyn (pictured) is a lovely Cinderella, delicately capturing the pathos of the early scenes, and dancing with security and openness in the ball-room scene where she had the best opportunities. Not so successful though is Milos Mutavdzic as her less than exciting prince, for while his partnering was secure and graceful, he lacked the ardour, vitality and attack usually associated with this role.

At the ball, encouraged by the stepmother, the two step-sisters try to attract the attention of the prince, who quickly delegates his two brothers to keep them away from him, leading to one delightful sequence in which the tall Provins makes ungainly attempts to dance with the Prince’s height-challenged brother, ( Andre Santos) providing some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

Although not all of Allen Lees impressive set would fit on to the Canberra Theatre stage, what we did see provided an appropriately sumptuous story-book fantasy ambience for the ballet. His elegant 30’s style costumes for the ball, and fantastic feathery creations for the enchanted forest added further eye-candy to a production which is a triumph for its choreographer, and a superb showcase for the West Australian Ballet.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Until this year I had not heard of classical pianist, James Rhodes. However leading up to his Australian tour he seems to be all over the media. Everywhere were television documentaries, interviews and magazine articles about this slightly Woody Allen-ish concert pianist. Perhaps because so much of his publicity was concentrated on his drug and psychiatric problems, as well as his reported disdain for convention, I’d gained the impression that he was a cleverly packaged gimmick, likely to be a flash-in-the-pan and soon disappear. Therefore, though curious, as it was occurring in a busy theatre week, I decided that I wouldn’t bother attending his only Canberra concert. However when a late invitation came in, curiosity got the better of me, and I went along to see what all the fuss was about.

The stage of the Playhouse was bare of decoration except for a Steinway grand in a tight spotlight. James Rhodes strolled onstage, whippet-thin, dressed in non-descript black trousers, white tee-shirt and black cardigan, unkempt hair, scruffy beard.

He seated himself at the piano, bent over , stared at the keys intently, then commenced to play a single note five times which lead him into Alessandro Marcello’s lovely “Adagio from Oboe Concerto in d Minor”. He had my full attention.

Accepting the applause from the very respectably sized audience, he stood up, walked around the piano, and in a charming, well-modulated voice, launched into an explanation of what fascinated him about the piece of music he had just played. Then followed a witty stand-up comedy routine laced with references to Queen, the Minogue sisters, Viagra and drugs, to explain what was so fascinating about Beethoven’s challenging “Piano Sonata in C”, of which he then gave a mesmerizing performance.

No point nit-picking about wrong notes, it was the intensity, virtuosity and sheer pleasure with which he interpreted the music that was completely captivating.

Another entertaining chat and then on to Moskowski’s charming “Etude in F”, a dynamic, un-programmed performance of Rachmaninoff’s famous “Prelude in C Sharp Minor”, which he informed us was the bonus track, which lead into Chopin’s’ lovely “Romanza” and a dazzling performance of Busoni’s transcription of the Bach “Chaconne from Partita No. 2. in D Minor”.

By this time he had completely charmed his audience and had them shouting for more. He happily obliged with two encores and promised to be available in the foyer to meet them and sign the ubiquitous CD’s after the performance.

I too had been completely won over by his relaxed stage manner and pianistic virtuosity, and doubly delighted because, though James Rhodes is touted as flaunting the traditional classical concert format, what we had just witnessed was a thoroughly professional and captivating classical cabaret, which ticked all the boxes by taking its audience on an engaging musical discovery tour during which we had learned as much about the pianist as we did about his music.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A touching memorial was held on October 31 by friends from the theatre community,a member of the Navy, Alcoholics Anonymous, the ANU food cooperative and Satyananda Yoga for the late William (Bill/Mac) Basil Cumpsty, who died in June this year alone, aged 81, in his North Lyneham flat.

Though the wheels of the ACT Police, the ACT Public Trustee and the ACT Coroner’s Court necessarily ground slowly, he was eventually identified and acknowledged in a touching ceremony that illustrated how his life had meant to the many people with whom he came in contact.

Known in the Canberra theatre scene as an actor of extraordinary facial vitality, as actor Peter Robinson explained in his eulogy, he was seized upon by the late director Ralph Wilson, who used him as a nonverbal participant in his shows, deliberately drawing attention away from more verbal elements. This was especially the case of in a play by Canberra’s Jane Bradhurst, in which Robinson played the explorer John O’Hara Burke, while Cumpsty upstaged him as Burke’s camel. He was also known for his interpretations of Samuel Beckett.

Another theatre friend, Colin Vaskess, found in Ralph Wilson’s papers in the Canberra Heritage Library, evidence that Cumpsty had played an Athenian policeman in Lysistrata, Graaberg in The Wild Duck, Yakov in The Seagull, Bardolph in Henry IV Part 2, a parson in The Country Wife and small roles in Wilson’s productions of plays by Moliere, Beckett and Witkiewicz.

Cumpsty was born in Lancashire England, the elder brother of Mary, Sally and Ann (Flenley) who emailed a moving recollection to those gathered at Norwood Park Crematorium on October 31.

Other participants in the ceremony recollected his naval career both in England and later with the Royal Australian Navy, his struggles that led him to join Alcoholics Anonymous, his participation in Satyananda yoga’s Kirtan chanting and his involvement with the ANU Food Coop.

Both the beginning and the end of the memorial were marked by singing and a ceremonial farewell by Mereana Otene-Waaka.

In the view of retired musician and friend Chris Bettle, who organised this farewell, and of the many people who gathered on October 31 to honour him, Bill Cumpsty’s was a life well-lived.

About Me

The 26 year-old Canberra Critics’ Circle is the only such group of critics in Australia that runs across all the major art forms, not just performing arts.
The circle changes each year depending on who is writing or broadcasting on the arts in Canberra.
Our aim is to provide a focal point for Canberra reviewers in print and electronic media through discussions and forums. As well, we make awards to ACT region artists (defined as within 100km radius of Canberra) in the latter part of each year.
The CCC has always resisted making awards in “best-of” categories. Arts practice is not a competitive race and Canberra is a small pool where it would be ridiculous to pre-impose categories, apart from major art form genres. The idea is that we, the critics, single out qualities we have noticed -- things which have struck us as important. These could be expressed as abstracts, like impact, originality, creativity, craftsmanship and excellence.
Our year is from September 30 2016 to September 30 2017.
Convener of the Circle is Helen Musa.